We're Not Gonna Take It
by Whisper1
Summary: The girls of New York take a stand against sexism
1. Equality? Pssh

In 1899 the newsboys of New York went on strike against Joseph Pulitzer. What those boys did gave people all over the city hope and courage, including the girls of New York who were banned from selling newspapers. After they had seen what these boys had done, it had given them courage, and finally, they stood up for themselves.  
  
"Time to put on the disguise." I said as I put on the few articles of boy clothing that I owned. Everything was baggy enough to hide my lack of girlish figure. The last item was a hat. I didn't wear the hat to cover handfuls of hair. I learned long ago to keep my hair as short as I could, because you never know when a swift wind will knock your hat straight off and reveal your secret. I wore the hat to hide the horrible hack job I did cutting my own hair off. I looked in the mirror and sighed. I may not have been an attractive looking fellow, but at lease I looked somewhat like a boy. It would just have to do. I made my way down the creaky stairs of my old apartment building and out the door.  
  
"Stop pushing!"  
"Ow, that's my toe!"  
"Cut it out!" The three guys in front of me were acting like children, mostly because they were children.  
"HEY, hey, hey! Break it up!" That was Jack Kelly, leader of Manhattan newsboys. Everyone respected him in one way or another.  
There was a commotion coming from just outside the front gates. I ran towards the crowd to see what the problem was.  
  
"I'm sorry miss but you aren't allowed in there." A stout man with glasses was trying to redirect a young woman.  
"I just want to sell newspapers. I don't see what the problem is." The redhead replied, trying to get around the man.  
" Everyone knows girls aren't aloud to sell."  
" Why not?!?"  
" Cause those are just the rules. I'm sorry but you aren't aloud, now please leave." The red head spit on the shoes of the man and stormed away.  
"That's the fourth one this week." I heard Jack Kelly say. I shook my head. This city was such a disgrace when it came to equality. I turned around and went back into line.  
My selling day was slow. I managed to sell 20 of the 25 I bought. At the end of the day, I returned to the distribution center to get my money back on the ones I didn't sell. On my way back to my hole in the wall, I saw the girl from earlier that day sitting on the side of the street. I was tempted to just walk away, but what she did intrigued me so much I had to go talk to her. I slowly approached the girl.  
"Excuse me, miss?" The redhead looked up, but said nothing.  
"Hi, I'm Amanda. I saw you at the distribution center earlier. You put on quite a show." She waited for a reaction from the girl. It came a second later.  
"If you liked that performance, wait till you see tomorrows." She smiled. I sat down beside her.  
"I can't wait. Just be careful. If you turn into a problem, they will arrest you." She smirked.  
" They have to catch me first." We both giggled.  
"Can I ask you something personal?"  
"Sure."  
  
"Why don't you just hide the fact that you're a girl and sell papers that way. Some people get away with it." She shook her head.  
"I shouldn't have to. I should have the same rites as those boys." I felt a bit embarrassed and ashamed that I had hid myself, but shook my head, silently agreeing with her.  
"Well I have to get home, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow." I stood up and started to walk away.  
"And hey, by the way, My names Robyn." I nodded and kept going.  
  
The next day, while in line for my papers, I heard someone shouting outside the distribution center. I walked over the crowd that was beginning to form and saw a familiar face. It was the Robyn girl that I had met the day before. What I saw shocked me. Robyn had a sign that read: Pulitzer is a sexist bastard. There were many gasps around the crowd as Robyn started chanting this while the stout man from the day before was trying to get the sign away from her. Pulitzer would not like this. It wouldn't be long before someone from the distribution center came out to teach her a lesson. Second after I thought about who would be sent to deal with this problem, the Delancy brothers came out and basically pulled Robyn out of the crowd and behind the distribution center. By the time the crowd cleared enough for me to follow Robyn, the Delancy brothers were on their way back, without Robyn. I knew that whatever happened couldn't be good.  
When I got to the back of the distribution center, Robyn was just getting up. She had a black eye and a bloody lip.  
"Are you alright?" I think I may have startled her, she jumped when she heard my voice.  
"Oh, yea. It's just a bloody lip. I'll be all right. What are you doing back here?" She said as she straightened out her clothes.  
"I saw them take you back here and I just wanted to make sure you weren't dead or anything. Your lucky that all they gave you was a bloody lip and black eye. They have been known to do much worse."  
"Luck has nothing to do with it. They were only assigned to scare me." She sounded so sure of herself, which confused me.  
"If you knew they were going to do this, then why did you go ahead and put on that little show out front."  
"Look, lets not get to deep into this. It's just something I felt like I had to do. I mean, no one else is saying what they want about this damn situation, so I thought I'd put my two cents in." I dropped the subject.  
" Well I have to get back and get my papers, will you be alright?" I asked  
"Yea, I'll be fine." I nodded and started to walk away.  
"So, hey, do you mind if I crash at your place tonight? I'd feel safer sleeping somewhere with a lock on the door." I turned around. In her state I didn't want her staying on the street at night, she was slowly becoming public enemy number one.  
"Sure, although the lock isn't much good. It pops off a lot. Just meet me here around 7." Robyn just laughed, I thought she was a bit insane. I went off and got my papers. I ended up selling one more than the day before. By the time I made it back to the distribution center, it was near 7 and Robyn was no where in site. I sat down right in front of the center to wait for Robyn. Ten minutes later she showed up. The black eye from earlier had gotten a little worse, but other than that, she looked the same way she did earlier, a bit startled and shaky.  
"Hey, I wasn't to sure you were gonna show." I shrugged my shoulders.  
"I didn't want you to be spending the night on the streets, especially after this morning. Lets go, it's this way." So we walked, silently, to my place. When we got there, she stood in the doorway.  
"You can come in, you know." I sat on the floor, against on of the walls. I didn't have very much, I didn't even have furniture.  
"Are you sure? I feel like if I sneeze, this whole place is going to fall down." She slowly came in. I chuckled.  
"I know it's not much, but it's a place with a roof and heat, sometimes." Robyn sat beside me.  
"How do you afford it though. I mean, living off of the newspapers may pay some, but I know it doesn't pay enough to afford this place, even though it's falling apart."  
"My uncle pays for part of it."  
"Does he live here?" I shook my head.  
"He moved to New Jersey about a year ago. He tried to get me to go with him, but eventually he said I could stay here, as long as I followed his rules."  
"What are his rules?"  
  
"I have to work, I have to save my money as much as I can, so I can afford the other half of this place, and I have to call him once a month to let him know I'm still alive and living here. In return, he sends the landlord enough to cover what I can't of the rent."  
"Nice deal. Wish I had an uncle like that."  
"Yeah. Anyway, there are some blankets and an extra pillow in the closet. You can sleep on the mattress in the other room, I'll take the floor."  
"Thanks." I went and fixed up my little floor area to sleep on. I was about to go to bed.  
"What are you doing?" Robyn came in the room.  
"I was about to go to bed." She just tsk tsk'd me and pulled out a bottle of vodka.  
"What is that?" I asked, knowing perfectly well what it was.  
"Just something to warm us up for then night."  
"And where did you get it? No, wait, I don't wanna know." Robyn smirked. She sat down beside me, took a drink from the bottle and passed it to me. I smelled it and sighed before taking a drink from it. The taste made my face scrunch up and it left a burning sensation in my throat. Robyn laughed.  
"That effect will go away after awhile. That's when you know your drunk." I laughed and passed her the bottle. We sat there, drinking and talking for about an hour. I was starting to pass out, and just started to stare at my shoes when I got an idea. With my speech slurred, I tried to say what if we did what Jack Kelly did. But, of course, that's not how it came out.  
"What if we did Jack Kelly?" Robyn started to laugh, and, once I realized what I said, I did to.  
"No no no, that's not what I meant. I meant, what if we did what Jack Kelly did, with the strike." I managed to say, in between giggles. Robyn just sighed.  
"Keep dreaming kid, good night." With that, Robyn crawled onto the mattress and I laid on the floor. The moment my head hit the pillow, I was out. However, what I said had gotten Robyn to thinking.  
The next morning, Robyn was up before I was, and I was usually up pretty earlier. Before I knew it, I heard a voice trying to wake me up.  
"Hey, wake up, I figured it out. Hey, Amanda, wake up!" I slowly opened my eyes and saw an enthusiastic look on her face.  
"What do you want? It's to early to be up." I pulled the blanket over my head.  
"Ah, suck it up. I said I figured it out, now get up!" I just made a noise and tried to bury my head into my pillow even more. Robyn wouldn't stand for this, she had something to say and wanted someone to listen to her. She got a good grip on my blanket and pulled it straight off.  
"OH jeez!" I said in cold shock.  
"Up please!" Robyn said, sounding all cheerful. I slowly sat up, trying to get my blanket back from her.  
"Fine, I'm up, now what did you figure out?" I said with a yawn.  
"Last night you suggested that we do what Jack Kelly did. Well I figured out a way we could. I'm not sure it will work, but it's worth a shot, right?" Still half a sleep and semi-confused I just gave her a blank look.  
"Ok, I'll put this into easy words for you. We gather all New York girls that want to sell. We gather all newsboys that will join us. We go on a massive strike to make Pulitzer let us sell newspapers."  
"But, we can't go on strike if we aren't suppose to be selling. Pulitzer won't care." Robyn just started shaking her head.  
"No, see, all we have to do is get under his skin. C'mon, I mean if Jack Kelly can change things around here, why can't we, right?" I shook my head.  
"Cause we are women with no power that aren't wanted to do this job." I said with a yawn and started crawling into my bed where Robyn placed the blanket. Haha, I thought, I get my blanket back. Robyn just tapped my back.  
"That's the spirit! Now I figure it will take a while to organize and to find all the girls out there and it will take forever to get the boys to see our side, but at least we have a head quarters. I'm gonna go out now, I'll be at the distribution center around 7 again, bye!" With that she ran out of the apartment. Ha, I get to go back to sleep. Wait.did she say.  
"What do you mean we have a head quarters?" I heard her laugh in the hallway. Man, I just got sucked into this. Hmm.sleep.I enjoyed sleep, but I knew I had to get up anyways, so ten minutes later I awoke with a jump, and almost fell off my mattress. My head was spinning and I knew that if I ate anything, it would just come back up, so I slowly just washed up, put on all my newsie clothing, and made my way to the distribution center.  
Thanks to my lovely hangover, the day seemed to go on forever. I had to many things to think about and to many questions for Robyn, and I wouldn't see her till 7 that night. What was I suppose to do with all my questions till then?  
The morning seemed to go on forever. It was a really windy day and about half a dozen times I had to chase down my papers that the wind would blow away. No one was really buying, so I only managed to sell half of the papers that I could catch. Lunch came and lunch went and for the 7th time that day, I had to chase down my papers. I caught most of them but there was one that just wouldn't let me catch it. Just when I thought I had lost it, I saw a tall blond girl come out of nowhere and snatch it from the wind.  
"Hey, excuse me miss, may I have my paper?" I shouted as I ran towards her. She looked at me.  
"I'll sell it to ya for a penny." I couldn't believe it, she was trying to sell me my own paper.  
"Or, you could just give it back to me. See, the wind blew it away before I could catch it and I was just about to get it back before you caught it." She gave me a 'I-don't-think-so' look.  
"The only way I'm going to give this to you is if you pay for it." She stood her ground.  
"But I already paid for it once, at the distribution center. Please just give me my paper." I was exhausted from chasing it down.  
"No. If it was yours, you should have taken better care of it and not let the wind blow it away. Now it's mine, I gotta make a living somehow, sorry."  
"Why don't you just go to the distribution center and buy your own papers to sell?"  
"Because they won't sell papers to me. If you hadn't noticed, I'm a girl." She said really smart-ass like. Just then, a light bulb went on in my head.  
"Hey, you're a girl." She just gave me a blank look.  
"Yes, yes I am, ok then." She started to walk away.  
"No, wait. I mean, my friend and I came up with an idea and I think you could help." I proceeded to tell her about Robyn's idea. She seemed to have a confused look on her face for most of it.  
"So, what do you think? Are you interested in helping us out?"  
" I dunno. It seems kinda far-fetched, no offense. But how are you going to get Pulitzer to even care? It would take a miracle for all that to work." I understood her doubt. I felt the same way.  
"Look, I know it seems kinda out their, but just come and talk to my friend Robyn. You don't have to definitely agree to help us. Just come and see for yourself what were trying to do and if you still have your doubts, you can leave any time. By the way, my name's Amanda." I stuck out my hand to shake hers.  
"I'm Nicole. Ok, I'll go check it out, but I'm still not giving you your paper back." I chuckled and then sighed. There goes one paper. So we walked to the distribution center and I saw Robyn standing there, talking to two other girls.  
"Hey, you're here early." I said to Robyn.  
"Yeah, well I found these two girls and told them about our idea. They liked it, so we walked here. This is Dainti and Onyx. They're from Brooklyn. Who did you find?"  
"Oh, this is Nicole." We all shook hands.  
"I'm from Manhattan." Nicole replied.  
"Well, since this wind isn't letting up, why don't we all head back to my place so we can talk about this strike thing." They all agreed and we all started to head back to my apartment. The only ones who really talked the whole way there were Robyn and I. I hoped that everyone would get more talkative when we reached my apartment.  
We reached my apartment and got the three girls settled. In silence, we sat for a few minutes, until someone broke the silence.  
" Ok, so now were here, what's this whole girls strike thing about?" Dainti asked, kinda annoyed. Robyn looked and me and gave me a 'well-go- ahead-and-tell-them' look.  
"Ok, well we were thinking about how unfair it was that the women of this city were being discriminated against by the distribution centers. So we decided that we would personally do something about it." The girls just gave me a hopeless look.  
"I know it sounds impossible. I even have doubts about it, but then I remembered the strike that happened a while ago, with Jack Kelly and the newsboys and how they forced Pulitzer to change his mind about raising the prices of the papers. So, if Jack Kelly could do that, then why can't we?"  
  
"It's simple, this is a different situation. First off, we're girls. No one is gonna care what 5 girls think or do. I bet we're all in the refuge by the end of the first day." Onyx stated.  
"Well we won't be just 5 girls once we find more of them. I know that there are a lot of them out there, we just have to find them. Pulitzer may not care right now what we think or do, so we have to make him care. We have to come up with ways to show him that we aren't going anywhere and that we have what it takes to win this fight." Robyn inputted.  
"Right. So to start this, what we have to do is find other girls around New York that want to sell newspapers. We have to find them and convince them that this cause is worth while and worth fighting for. Since there are five of us, I say each one goes to a different borough and finds as many girls as we can. We can meet back here at the end of each day, and decided where to go from there."  
"Whoa, hold on there. I don't even know if I think this is a cause worth fighting for. I mean, think about it. Once we do get Pulitzer's attention, it could be worse than right now. I mean, he'll send people after us to silence us. We don't know how to fight, we don't have the muscle." Nicole interjected. Robyn stood up.  
"How could you not realized that this is worth fighting for. We are fighting for equality here. If we don't stand up for the women of this city, no one else will." Nicole stood up and was face to face with Robyn while Onyx, Dainti and I just sat there and watched.  
"If we stand up, they will knock us down. Once we show them we aren't going away, they will silence us by any means possible and I don't know about you but I don't have a death wish. * sigh* Look, all I'm asking for is for you to give me a reason to stay and fight." Nicole said that and sat back down. We all sat in silence, wondering what to say, wondering who will say it.  
"You want a reason. Here's a reason. Look five years into the future where you will be expected to marry someone and stay home to raise his children while he is at work making the money. You're sitting in your room, silently crying to yourself because you're not happy. On the surface maybe, but deep down inside you're not happy. You feel restricted to a simple life. You're looking at your daughter while she sleeps, thinking wow; she is going to be smart and important to society. But wait, how will she be important to society if the only thing she will be raised to do, is become a housewife. We aren't just doing this for us; we are doing this for the future of this city. You help us now and it can help that little girl in the future." I looked at Nicole and saw that I had struck a chord. I silently patted myself on the pack, while I took a deep breath. The mood in the room took a drastic turn from doubt to sadness because we all knew what I had said was right. The only thing that girls were molded to do was keep a house and raise children.  
"Alright, so I'm convinced, lets get working on a plan or something." Dainti stated. Onyx nodded and looked over at Nicole. All eyes seemed to be on her.  
"So what do you say Nicole?" I asked. She looked at me.  
"I'm in. But are you ready to give that speech again, because I guarantee that there will more girls who feel like me and are gonna need convincing. How many times are you prepared to do that. How many times are you prepared to take the leader role?"  
"As many times as I have to." I stated. At that moment there was a understanding that went through the whole room. The five of us were in this till the end, whenever that would be.  
"Well alright then. Let's get to work. Now, I know there are five of us, but I think we should send two to the Bronx and three to Harlem. Then the two that went to the Bronx can go to Brooklyn, the other three can go to Queens and then we do Manhattan together. I think that's the safest for us all." Robyn had a good point. We agreed that Dainti, Robyn and Nicole would go to Harlem and Queens and Onyx and I would go to the Bronx and then Brooklyn. I let the four of them stay the night at my place, so we could all get an early start. The next day we all woke up and basically said our good byes while making our way to our certain districts.  
  
Rose Sweet Anne - Brooklyn Fantasy - Bronx Dainti - Manhattan CC RESULTS Nightingale - Queens  
  
Gypsy- find her in Harlem  
  
Onyx- Brooklyn  
  
Doll Face- Brooklyn  
  
Sparrow -Manhattan  
  
Sneaks- Brooklyn  
  
Rain McGowan- Bronx  
  
Nike - Harlem  
  
Linly "Pinch" Silverio - Brooklyn 


	2. IdeasIdeasIdeas

. Each district we went to ended up being somewhat helpful. In Harlem Nicole, Robyn and Dainti found Gypsy and Rose and in Queens they found a girl named Nightingale. Onyx and I found Sweet Anne, Sneaks and Linly "Pinch" Silverio in Brooklyn and Fantasy and Rain in the Bronx. When we met up with the others and went to Manhattan we found Dainti and Sparrow. We took them all to Central Park where I gave the same little speech. I also asked each of them to try to bring as many other girls as they could in two days to a meeting I would be holding at my apartment.  
The next two days were chaos. Robyn and I were trying to think of ways to explain this to all the new girls and things that we could start doing to show Pulitzer we won't go away. We came up with two ideas to start with. One was just protesting with signs and stuff, and the other was to get someone to go undercover, buy a whole bunch of papers and then find a spot to start selling them, as girls, to show the city that we could do just as good as the guys.  
When we all gathered in Central Park, there were about 30 of us. I had to admit that I was kinda impressed that there were that many but I also knew that we would need about ten times that to at least attract someone's attention. Robyn and I explained our plans to these girls and there were a few questions, there were also a few non-believers. One girl in particular didn't believe that we would do anything. To prove her wrong, Robyn, Nicole, Onyx, Dainti and I went and stood in front of the distribution center screaming how unfair Pulitzer was being at the top of our lungs until the cops started to come, then we made a mad dash for it. I know everyone's thinking, why would you run. Although we did have the guts to stay and stick up for ourselves, we didn't want to get caught, not yet anyway.  
The next day, however, a few of the girls and I decided to go and stand in front of the Manhattan lodging house to try to get a few of them on our side. We stood there for hours chanting and pacing in front of it. We made sure that their leader, Jack Kelly, heard us. A few of them sat in the windows, amused by us, but nothing else. One guy, named Mush, found it particularly amusing. "Jack, hey Jack. Those damn girls are at it again! Ha ha! They must be real stupid to think Pulitzer will even care." Mush laughed.  
"Yeah. They won't even make Pulitzer flinch. But they are sure as hell annoying me. I'll be right back." Jack smirked as he made his way downstairs to the rallying girls.  
"Ha! Good luck Jack." Blink laughed as Jack went down the stairs. I saw him walking out of the lodging house.  
"Ladies, ladies ladies. Whatever this little act is, I don't appreciate it much since it's right in front of my boys house, so move it." We all just stared at him. Robyn and I approached him.  
"Hey Kelly, you and your boys wanna support us?" Robyn asked with a smirk on her face.  
"Ha! Yea right. My boys and I think you bunch are a bunch of dumb asses for going up against Pulitzer. So take your wounded soldier act on the road. We don't want you around here." With that Kelly went back up to his boys. I laughed as Robyn and I walked away. After a few more hours of striking around the city, I said bye to the girls and made my way to my apartment where I found a notice on my door. I had a week to pay rent or I was getting kicked out. Since I stopped selling papers as a "boy" my uncle stopped sending me money and therefore, screwing me out of a place to live.  
Later on, I was sitting on my bed. One week until we would be kicked out of the apartment. It was giving me a headache. I sighed and took a look at my wall and all of the articles I had collected because of the newsboys strike. Slowly I walked over and took them all down. Walking back to my bed, I decided that it was time I re-read these articles in an attempt to gain some perspective, which I was unfortunately loosing. Having to give endless speeches about how we can win and having to show these girls all these things was tiring me out and I was started to not believe myself when I spoke.  
It took me two hours to read everything. I made mental notes on everything from how every district ended up helping to how Jack Kelly defeated Joseph Pulitzer.  
The next day, all the girls met outside the distribution center. Jack and his boys walked up to the girls.  
"Well if it isn't the jackass Jack Kelly. Having a good morning boys?" Doll Face spat at them. Jack was just about to say something when someone cut him off.  
"Lay off him Doll Face, unless you want a good beatin." Doll Face turned around to see her leader in her face.  
"What are you stickin up for him for? He's been nothing but a pain in our ass since the beginning."  
"I'm sticking up for him because he's done nothing wrong. He's been looking out for his boys since day one. Besides, he can't have done nothing wrong in the first place because this ain't even his fight. It's our fight." Doll Face shut up quickly with a scowl on her face. Jack had a confused look on his.  
"Now everyone listen up, cause I've got something to say. Up till now, this fight has been like a vacation. No one has done much work and we all have goofed around. Well that all changes today. Starting today we are going to fight back. Starting today, we are going to stop sitting on our asses and we are going to start making a difference. We have one week before we're kicked out of the apartment so lets make it count. We either stick together as a group or we will fail. Well I say failure is not an option. I saw we will fight and we will win. Any objections?" Doll Face walked up to me.  
"What if we don't like your plan?" I got closer.  
"Then you can leave."  
  
"Fine, I'll get out of your way then." With a nod of her head, Doll Face walked away and was followed by six other girls. I sighed.  
"Any other objections?" Robyn asked, standing beside me with a smile on her face. No one said anything.  
"Good, lets get to work." 


	3. Giving Up

The next few days were spent picketing around the city, in different districts. A few times we were chased away by the cops, but nothing to serious happened. Not until that one day that you know changes everything for you. It started off as a normal day. We all met at my apartment and were going to make our way down the distribution center. When we were just around the corner, the atmosphere was different. Something was wrong, I could sense it in a way. The air seemed harder to breathe in. As we came around the corner, I suddenly realized why. Sitting in front of the distribution center was about 10 really butch guys. Guys that had never been there before. Once they saw us coming around the corner, all of them stood up, as if they were getting ready for a battle. My breath was caught in my throat and I couldn't move or say anything. But Robyn didn't seem to have that problem.  
"What, only 10 of 'em? Well I don't know about you guys, but I feel insulted." As she marched towards them, we slowly followed her. When we got right in front of them one of the bigger guys walked forward and came to within an inch of Robyn's face.  
"It seems you girls have two choices. Either you turn around and leave or you'll get the beating of a life time."  
"We are not going anywhere, so you can turn around and go tell Pulitzer that, messenger boy."  
"You're treading on dangerous ground whore!" While Robyn and this unpleasant man were trading insults, Jack Kelly and Blink were keeping an eye on the situation.  
"You don't think that an actual fight will happen, do ya Jack?"  
"I'm not sure. Pulitzer's men can be unpredictable, and so can those girls. Go find Snoddy, Bumlets, Race and Dave. If a fight does happen, someone's gonna need to break it up." Blink nodded and took off in search of his friends who weren't to far away.  
Meanwhile us girls weren't moving and the men were getting angry.  
"I'm not gonna tell you again, get the hell outta here you little bitch!" With that Nicole quickly spat in his face. In response he punched her in the stomach and she fell to the ground.  
"You are such a manly-man aren't you? Sent to beat up some a group of girls who are smaller than you. Such a coward." The words left Robyns mouth before she had a chance to think and we could all tell she instantly regretted it. The air became really tense.  
"What did you say? Did you just call me a coward? You have no idea what you're talking about. Take your little sluts and get the hell out of here. NOW!" With that Robyn slapped him straight across the face. Nicole, who was slowly getting up, just smirked. The other guys stood up quickly and were beside him in an instant.  
"Your gonna regret that girly." He came towards Robyn and she instinctively backed up. Then, right as everyone thought he was gonna deck Robyn, he reached out and grabbed me by my throat.  
"We'll just have to make an example of this one. We'll show you not to mess with one of the most important men of this city. People just happen to disappear that way." With that he pulled out an knife. My eyes went wide and I tried my best to struggle and get away from him. Everyone tried to get closer to try to help me, but his me were to quick and created a barrier between my girls and us. Immediately Nicole and Robyn dove at them followed by the rest of the girls. They punched, kicked, pulled hair, basically anything they could think of, but the men were to strong and they were swatting my girls away like flies. One of them hooked Robyn in the eye and she was down. I gasped and this caught the guys' attention.  
"Whatsa matter? Don't like seeing your friends beaten up? They deserve it. You guys have caused enough trouble, so we're here to put an end to you. Which means we can do whatever we want and we will get away with it. We can slowly kill each and everyone of you and as long as we keep it quiet there is no one out there that can touch us." A tear went down my cheek. He then whistled at one of his boys. That boy grabbed Robyn and forced her to come to where we were.  
"You called me a coward. Well how cowardly do you think I am now?" With that he took the knife and slowly drug it across my arm, I whimpered in pain. I looked over at Robyn who was struggling to get free.  
"Stop it, just stop it. She didn't do anything to you. It was me."  
"She refused to leave, she's just as bad as the rest of you. Besides, I'm just using her as an example. To show what happens when you try to go against Pulitzer." He then quickly let his knife slash my stomach. I screeched and fell to the ground. He was about to go in for the kill when something hit him on the head and caused him to fall straight to the ground. I looked behind him and saw something that would have brought tears to my eyes if I weren't already crying in pain. Standing there, with a group of guys behind him and a pair of brass knuckles on his hand was Jack Kelly. Inside I smiled, until I noticed how much blood I was loosing. I looked up at Jack and muttered two words.  
"Help me." And then I collapsed.  
  
When I finally opened my eyes all I saw was a dozen pairs of eyes staring back at me.  
"She's awake!" With that I heard footsteps and all the eyes were replaced by two sets of eyes. Robyn and Jack pushed everyone away in order to get a good look at me.  
"God, don't scare me like that again." I smiled at Robyn and tried to say something but my throat felt all scratchy and sore. Jack helped me sit up enough so I could drink some water and when he gave me the cup of water, I chugged it as fast as I could.  
"More please." I whispered. Jack chuckled and refilled my cup. This time I took my time drinking it, enjoying the sensation of the cool water running down my throat. Finally I looked at Robyn.  
"So, what's the total damage?"  
"Well most of our girls have cuts and bruises all over. Onyx fractured her lower arm, but she's strong. She'll be all right. Then there's you. You've got an 8 inch cut on your left arm which needed stitches and a severe gash on your stomach which, although wasn't to deep, also needed stitches." I sighed.  
"How the hell are we gonna pay for that?" Jack stepped in.  
"Your not. Our friend Denton has agreed to pay for it all as long as he can get an interview and a promise that you don't talk to any other reporter. He wants to be the only one with an inside source."  
"He wants an interview, he's got it. Please tell him thanks for me." Jack nodded and escorted Robyn outta the room so I could get some rest.  
The next time I woke up it was because someone was shaking me.  
"Amanda wake up already!" I opened my eyes to see Sparrow shaking me. I just looked at her.  
"Robyn's missing." I froze and an immediate bad feeling started to grow in the pit of my stomach.  
"When was the last time anyone saw her?" I started to sit up.  
"After you fell asleep. She was real mad cause of what those guys did to you and she stormed out of here." I knew this wouldn't be good. When Robyn was angry she would go do something stupid like try to beat someone up. Just then Rain busted into the room.  
"We've found her. But it's not good." I had Rain and Sparrow help me up and they led me to where Robyn was. I was a bit surprised to be led to an alley. Jack and a few of his boys were already there, comforting a few of my girls. Jack saw me and slowly made his way over.  
"Where is she Jack?" My voice was shaky.  
"She's in the alley, but I don't think you wanna go in there."  
"Why not?" My voice remained shaky.  
"Cause.this may be hard to hear, but uh.she's dead." If Rain and Sparrow hadn't been holding on to me, I would have collapsed again. Jack let that sink in for a moment before he went on.  
"There's something else. We found this lying beside her." He held up a piece of cardboard that had Example #1 written on it. I lost my mind, literally. I don't remember how I got back to my apartment, I don't remember anything after Jack showed that to me. The next thing I remembered was a few days later I was sitting in my apartment. I hadn't moved in days and I didn't plan on moving for days to come. I refused to eat or work on the strike. The girls were starting to loose faith. All I would do was sit on my bed and stare into space. I didn't understand how Robyn could be dead. It was her that started this whole thing. She was the glue holding it all together. She once told me that the only thing she ever wanted to do was to make her mother proud and now I was suppose to believe she was dead. I knew when I joined this strike business, I knew some of us would get beat up and I knew it would be hard but I never imagined that someone would die.  
  
A few days after I was brought to my apartment, I heard knocking on my door. Slowly I got up and opened it. I was surprised to see Jack on the other side.  
"Hey, how are the injuries holding up?  
"Alright I guess."  
"Right, so I hear you haven't left your room in days. So come on." He gestured for me to leave.  
"Where are we going?"  
"To join everyone for supper. Your girls have come up with some ideas I know you'll like, and I think a few of them have come to like some of my boys. So come on, lets go join them." I shook my head.  
" You know what, I'm not to hungry." Jack shook his head.  
"No, your gonna leave this room. If I have to go in there and drag you out I will. So come on." Slowly I followed him. Although I didn't want to go anywhere, I knew Jack would drag me there and I really didn't want that to happen. So we went and sat by everyone in Tibby's for a while. I picked at some bread. No one mentioned anything about Robyn and the beginning, but that didn't last forever.  
"So, I don't mean to be the spoiler of the nice gathering, but Amanda, what's next on our strike list of things to do?" Sparrow asked. I stared at her for what seemed like eternity. Then I came up with my answer.  
"Nothing. I quit." They all stared at me with disbelief. After a few minutes, they were still staring and I was becoming annoyed.  
"What are you all staring at? I quit; I'm not your leader anymore. Go find someone else because I quit."  
"But.but.but why?" Onyx choked out.  
"Why? WHY? I just lost one of the most important people in my life so excuse me if I want to mourn her. It was because of this stupid organization that she died. Now all I want is to be left alone.  
"But you're still our leader, whether you want to be or not. We are all in this because of you." Gypsy spat.  
"You want a leader, elect someone else. You want to still follow me? Fine, I'll lead you down the trail where you give up because it's obvious to me. We will never win this! Just give up already." I quietly walked out of the room and sat on the curb outside. Jack followed me outside.  
"Hey what happened in there?" Cowboy came up to me to comfort me.  
"I can't do it. I just can't do it."  
"What can't ya do?"  
  
"I can't go into battle with Pulitzer. Not now, not anymore. If I do I'm gonna loose. He's too strong and he's too smart, he's gonna win." Jack sat quiet for a moment.  
"You're right. He is strong and he is smart, very smart, but that doesn't mean he's gonna win. He has lost before and do you know what that means? It means it can happen again, but those girls have to stick together and you need to lead them. They need a leader, someone to show them."  
"And what if I loose?" I whimpered  
"If you loose, things will go back to the way they were." As Jack said this I put my head down and realized something.  
"I wouldn't be able to go back to the way things were, not after all that has happened."  
"So don't loose." I lifted my head up and looked Jack in the eye. I could feel tears running down my face.  
"But it's so hard." Jack sighed.  
"What, did you expect it to be easy? Did you think it was gonna last a week and then Pulitzer would realize what a mistake he was making? Life doesn't happen like that. It isn't all fun and games. When the newsies went on strike it took a lot more than catchy slogans and good friends to win. I had to stick my neck out, I almost lost everyone I cared about and I was put in jail. It took commitment and tears and pain and a lot of hard work before we won. If you thought it could all just happen overnight well you must be disappointed. You won't win if you give up."  
"But.."  
"No! No more buts. Stop making excuses! You are wasting my time and my newsies time. If you want help or advice, then ask, otherwise I have to get going, I got a life I need to get back to." Jack stood up.  
"Do not let Robyn die for nothing." It was the last thing Jack said to me before he walked away. I crumpled into a ball and just cried. It was something I hadn't done since Robyn died and let me tell you something; it felt so good to finally get it all out. 


	4. Realizations

Authors Note: Sorry this part is gonna be so short, but I just started getting inspired again, anyways, enjoy (  
  
I cried for Robyn, I cried for giving up, I cried for everything under the moon and back and yet after that I cried some more. Finally I felt something inside of me snap and it made me stop crying. What I felt was anger. I was angry, hell I was pissed off. I was angry at Pulitzer for ignoring us, I was angry at whoever killed Robyn, I was angry at Doll Face for abandoning us, I was angry at everything. I tried to keep it from consuming me whole, but I failed and all I felt was anger. Anger that gave me strength, anger that gave me courage and anger that made me stand up and declare as loud as I could that I was mad as hell and I wasn't going to take it anymore. I knew that I had let down my girls and the only way to get their trust and faith back was to do something drastic. I ran as fast as I could to where I knew Doll Face and her friends would be hanging out. At first she just looked at me, and then told me to go away.  
  
"No. I will not go away." She looked shocked. Hell I was shocked; I didn't understand where this was coming from.  
  
"I said GO AWAY!" Doll Face got closer to me.  
  
"No, I will not go away. Not until you hear what I have to say."  
  
"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! I don't want to hear a thing you have to say. We left your little strike for good reason, now get AWAY from us." She pushed me and I moved backwards a bit but regained my stance.  
  
"Robyn's dead. Robyn's dead because we pushed the wrong buttons. Do you want to know why we pushed the wrong buttons, because I wouldn't listen to anyone. I didn't listen to you when you didn't like the way things were going and for that I'm sorry. Telling you to leave was wrong and again I'm sorry. I made a huge mistake because we need you. We need people with ideas because frankly I've run out of them. I have NO CLUE what I'm doing anymore. I don't know what to say to people, I don't know what the next step should be; hell I don't even know where I'm going to live after tonight. But I do know one thing. We all started fighting for the same cause. We all wanted to be treated as equals and I know that hasn't changed, now will you stop being so stubborn and come back with me?"  
  
"You think you can just come here and give some meaningful speech and that'll make us just flock back towards you. Hell no. You didn't listen, your right. But how should I know that your gonna start listening now? How should I know that this whole thing will work out, how the hell am I suppose to believe you when you say that you want help? I don't believe you, now go away."  
  
"I understand you don't believe me and that the last thing you need is for someone to tell you what to do. What I'm saying is I know I was wrong, and pigheaded and I am truly sorry for that. But now I need your help, and your friends help, and everyone's help, including the jackass Jack Kelly. I need help to win this, we need help to win this and we can't do it without you. Please join us again." I was out of breath, I was out of words, and I knew soon enough I would be out of time. Doll Face stared at me for a while. Then she turned around and started walking away. I put my head down in defeat.  
  
"I'll think about it. If I show up tomorrow count us in, if not never come to us again." With that Doll Face and her friends walked away. I turned around and started walking back to my girls. I needed to talk to them, I need Jack Kelly's help, but most of all I needed to get justice for what had happened to Robyn. 


End file.
